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World in brief

Gitmo detainee was cleared for transfer before suicide

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 12, 2006

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - One of the detainees who committed suicide at a U.S. prison in Cuba had been cleared for transfer to another country, a second was involved in a 2001 prison uprising in Afghanistan where a CIA agent died, and a third had ties to al-Qaida, the Pentagon said Sunday.

The Department of Defense identified the three as Saudi Arabians Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi and Yassar Talal Al-Zahrani and Yemeni Ali Abdullah Ahmed. The two Saudis were also identified earlier by Saudi officials.

The three hanged themselves with nooses made from sheets and clothing early Saturday, bringing renewed pressure on the United States to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. About 460 men are held there, almost all of them without charge.

Utaybi had been recommended for transfer before his suicide, the Defense Department said in a statement. It did not name the country but said he would have been under detention there as well.

Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention center, said he did not know whether Utaybi had been informed about the transfer recommendation before he killed himself.

The U.S. military accused Utaybi, 30, of being a member of a militant missionary group, Jama'at Al Tablighi.

U.S. authorities allege Ahmed, 28, was a mid- to high-level al-Qaida operative who had key ties to principal facilitators and senior members of the group. Throughout his time in Guantanamo, he had been noncompliant and hostile and was a long-term hunger striker from late 2005 to May 2006, the Defense Department said.

Zahrani, 21, was accused by the U.S. of being a front-line fighter for the Taliban who facilitated weapons purchases for offensives against U.S. and coalition forces. He was allegedly involved in the prison uprising.

None of the three had been formally charged.

While U.S. officials argue the suicides were political acts aimed at hurting American standing in the world, human rights activists and former detainees say prisoners are desperate after years in captivity and view suicide as the only way out even though Islam forbids it.

Until now, Guantanamo officials have said there have been 41 suicide attempts by 25 detainees and no deaths since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002. Defense lawyers contend the number of attempts is higher.

Iran accepts parts of Western package, says others should be eliminated

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Sunday that it accepted some parts of a Western offer aimed at getting Tehran to drop its nuclear program, but it rejected others while calling the central point ambiguous.

Iran said the key issue of uranium enrichment - a process that can make nuclear fuel for a power plant or fissile material for an atomic bomb - needed clarification.

Although specifics weren't given, the comments were the first time Iran has said directly that it rejects or accepts parts of the package.

Top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Iran would reject the package outright if Western powers threatened the Islamic republic with sanctions in the nuclear standoff.

The package, presented by permanent Security Council members the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain, plus Germany, contains a series of incentives for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.

Imprisoned Hamas leader withdraws support of two-state proposal

JERUSALEM - The Hamas prisoners' leadership withdrew its support Sunday for a document that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to put to a referendum.

The document, signed last month by leaders of Hamas, Abbas' Fatah Party and other Palestinian factions in Israeli jails, endorses the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. When it was presented, it marked a major step toward recognition of the Jewish state by an influential segment of the Hamas leadership. The radical Islamic movement has refused to acknowledge Israel's existence.

Abbas decided Saturday to put the document to a referendum July 26. His decision prompted an angry response from Hamas leaders. In a statement released Sunday, the imprisoned Hamas leader who signed the document, Abdel Khaleq al-Natsheh, said he no longer supported it.

Meanwhile, an Israeli air strike killed two Hamas militants Sunday and Palestinian militants bombarded southern Israel with homemade rockets.

[Last modified June 12, 2006, 06:12:04]